North American designed this prototype of the B-70 nuclear armed deep-penetration supersonic strategic bomber in the late 1950s. Its six engines were capable of maintaining a Mach 3 speed for thousands of miles at 70,000 feet.

Text and Photos
By Rod King
Guest Columnist

DAYTON, OHIO — What started in Dayton, Ohio, in 1923 as a small engineering study collection of technical artifacts is now the largest military aviation museum in the world.

And this year, the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

It’s more than a place to see airplanes and missiles. It’s the history of flight from the Wright brothers’ initial flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C., and the use of planes in transportation and military combat to exploration of space. It’s all here in four enormous air-conditioned buildings.

The museum is divided into galleries covering broad historic trends in military aviation. They run the gamut from the Early Years, World War II, Korean War and Southeast Asia galleries to the Cold War, Missile, Presidential, Space and Research and Development galleries.

There’s also a Holocaust exhibit with a detailed timeline of the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party to power in Germany to their calculated extermination of Jews and other people they deemed undesirable to their eventual defeat at the close of World War II.

A young World War II pilot is getting raked over the coals by an officer for upending his fighter plane and damaging its propellers.

As one docent commented “it could take several days to take in everything.” That’s because there are 22 acres under roof, housing more than 300 planes. The museum’s total collection is 2,900 planes. Some are on display outside and some are at other museums around the country.

Some of the most notable planes on display include a replica of the 1909 Wright Military Flyer, the World War II B-29 Superfortress that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan, the B-52 Stratotofortress, the Cold War era B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, the U-2A spy plane, the Space Shuttle Trainer and seven presidential planes which are open for viewing. One is the plane that took President and Mrs. Kennedy to Dallas Nov. 22, 1963, when he was assassinated. Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president aboard the plane and it carried Kennedy’s body back to Washington, D.C.

The Boeing B-17F Memphis Belle is a main attraction. It became a symbol of the heavy bomber crews and support personnel who helped defeat Nazi Germany in World War II. It was one of the first heavy bombers to complete 25 combat missions, after which it and its crew returned to the United States to boost the sale of war bonds. Memphis Belle was featured in a 1944 documentary, two motion pictures and a 1990 Hollywood feature film.

Along the way there are lifelike vignettes with uniformed mannequins attending to planes, loading ammunition, climbing into the cockpit and doing pre-flight inspections. One is of a young pilot getting chewed out royally for running his fighter plane into a fence, upending it and damaging the propellers.

Visitors can get the feeling of flying in one of the flight simulators located in the Korean War Gallery. There’s a charge to find out what it’s like in the air. A huge C-124-C cargo plane is open for viewing, as is a B-29 fuselage. Guests can view aviation and space-oriented films (for a fee) in a large-format theater with surround sound.

Visiting the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force is a fun way to get an effortless and painless history lesson. And get this. It’s free and so is the parking.

For more information, visit www.nationalmuseum.af.mil.